Today’s Expo Phase 2 groundbreaking ceremony in Santa Monica marks a new milestone in L.A.’s transit expansion – and a chance for the Expo Construction Authority to prove that it learned from the mistakes of the over budget and delayed Phase 1. The first phase to Culver City has faced an unexpected number of setbacks and still has an uncertain opening date, but County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky is quick to point out that Phase 1 is “an exception. Not the rule.”

Skeptical about the claim that infrastructure projects are job creators? The $4 billion project to build a new international terminal at LAX will create almost 40,000 jobs over its seven year construction period. What’s more, the LAX project is completely privately funded – meaning tax payers aren’t on the hook for this one.

NBC’s Joe Mathews was hoping to hear mention of California High-Speed Rail (CHSR) during President Obama’s jobs speech last Thursday. Unfortunately, Obama only talked in broad strokes and Mathews feels that the $140 billion infrastructure plan for roads, bridges and rail is too small to give CHSR the federal boost it requires.

The Bay Area’s version of TAP, the Clipper Card, is facing many of the same problems as our own popular but flawed universal fare system. On one hand, the Clipper Card has been embraced by riders and usage continues to grow. But the system is fraught with glitches and customer complaints are common. Like TAP, the Clipper Card technology was built and operated by San Diego based Cubic, the company responsible for many universal fare systems worldwide – including Oyster Card in London, which seems to have avoided many of the issues that have plagued Clipper and TAP.

Clipper may be having a few glitches (including some human-caused), but Clipper is way ahead of our TAP on autoload and acceptance by commuter trains (Caltrain vs. Metrolink) and munis (AC Transit vs. Big Blue Bus).